


A Case Of You (Part 1 of the Reunion trilogy)

by Effervescence Silverplanet (Heather)



Category: Angel: the Series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: F/M, Minor Character Death, Original Characters - Freeform, Schmoop, Songfic, Unfinished and Discontinued
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2000-07-17
Updated: 2000-07-17
Packaged: 2017-10-08 01:26:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/71280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heather/pseuds/Effervescence%20Silverplanet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ten years in the future, Buffy, now widowed and a mom, thinks about Angel and decides she wants him back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Case Of You (Part 1 of the Reunion trilogy)

**Author's Note:**

> Be a luv and pretend "Hero" never happened. Doyle belongs with Cordy, dammit, and I aim to see he gets her.

  
~*~*~*~

Just before our love got lost, you said,  
"I am as constant as a northern star,"  
And I said, "Constantly in the darkness.  
Where's that at? If you want me, I'll be in the bar."

Buffy stared out the window at the rain outside and sighed.  
"Looks like I'll have to drive Audrey to school." She muttered under her  
breath before shouting up the stairs, "Audrey Joyce Finn, get down here right  
now or we're going to be late!"  
"I don't want to go to school!" A sleepy, six-year-old voice shouted back.  
"Well, you can't just stay in bed all day!"  
"Yes, I can! I'm sick!"  
Buffy smiled as she ran up the stairs and plopped down on the bed beside her  
daughter. "Sick, huh?"  
Audrey nodded violently, widening her already enormous brown eyes for  
emphasis.  
Buffy frowned and mocked concern. "What's wrong?"  
"I, uh, I got a cold." Audrey lied poorly, then faked a cough.  
Buffy tickled her mercilessly, extracting helpless giggles from her little  
girl. "Well, slugger, if you want to stay home with a cold, you're not  
getting out of bed at all, and Granny's going to have to come stay with you  
while I'm at work."  
Audrey made a face. "Can't you stay home with me? All Granny does is knit  
and make yucky tea. She's no fun and she smells funny."  
Buffy laughed. "You know, Audrey, you shouldn't talk about your grandma like  
that. Doesn't she always get you the best presents for Christmas--"  
"--because I'm her only grandchild." Audrey finished for her, rolling her  
eyes. "But Mommy, I want to stay home with you! Or Aunt Willow and Uncle  
Spike."  
"Well, if you want to go to camp this summer, I have to go to work. Which  
means that if you don't want to stay home with Granny, you have to go to  
school."  
Audrey pouted. "Mommy, you don't play fair."  
Buffy laughed. "Come on, kiddo; I've got breakfast waiting for you  
downstairs."  
Audrey sighed and hopped out of bed, already dressed. "What's for breakfast?  
I'm starving!"  
Buffy smiled inwardly. This child may be hers and Riley's, but she had  
somehow inherited Xander's appetite.  
"Waffles, French toast and orange juice sound good?"  
"Yeah!" Audrey bounded down the stairs ahead of her mother and made a break  
for the kitchen. She had already situated herself at the table with her  
breakfast before Buffy even got there. It never ceased to amaze her how  
energetic Audrey was.  
Buffy poured herself some coffee and grabbed a piece of toast and sat down  
at the table. "So, slugger, what are you guys doing in school today?"  
"Making May flowers."  
Buffy frowned. "Isn't it a little early to make stuff for Thanksgiving?"  
"Not Mayflowers, May flowers!" Audrey corrected, giggling. "It's because  
it's springtime."  
Buffy froze, then looked over at the calendar and the dates crossed off with  
big, red X's. Her stomach lurched as she looked at the date.  
Audrey chattered on happily, eating her breakfast, oblivious to her mother's  
sudden deathly pallor. "Okay, Mommy; are we going to school now?"  
Buffy pushed herself away from the table, shoved her hands deep into the  
pockets of her jeans and gave Audrey a tight, trembling smile. "O-Of course,  
slugger; Mommy just has to make a phone call first."  
"Okay."  
Buffy fled to her bedroom, nearly tripping over one of Audrey's roller  
skates on the way, before she picked up the cordless next to her bed and  
frantically tapped in a number. She waited, tapping her foot impatiently, for  
the person on the other end to pick up.  
"Hello?" Mickayla, a clerk at Buffy's shop, answered.  
"Hi, it's me." Buffy said. "I can't come in today, okay? Have Tara cover for  
me."  
"But why?" Mickayla asked.  
Buffy groaned inwardly. She knew the older woman, employee or no, wouldn't  
let Buffy stay home unless she had a valid reason. She cringed slightly as  
she lied, "I've got a cold." She sniffed and faked a cough for emphasis,  
kicking herself for being worse than her six-year-old daughter.  
"All right; boss; I'll call Tara. You stay in bed. Want me to bring you some  
soup later?" Mickayla asked, concerned.  
"No, thanks; that's okay. I'll be in tomorrow if I feel better."  
"Okay."  
"Bye." Buffy hung up and rubbed her temples in a vain attempt to soothe her  
newfound headache. She went back downstairs and snatched up her car keys.  
"C'mon, slugger; time for school." She announced with false brightness.  
Audrey got down from her chair, grabbed her jacket and her backpack before  
she ran to the car.  
Buffy clutched at her stomach to keep from throwing up as she got in the  
driver's side, fastened her seat belt and drove her daughter to school.  
Oh, God, she thought. It's today.

~*~*~*

I met a woman  
She had a mouth like yours  
And she knew your devils and your deeds  
And she said, "Go to him, stay with him if you can,  
But be prepared to bleed..."

Buffy grabbed a bottle out from under the sink and headed for the living  
room. Spanish Sherry. Good for drowning sorrows. She twisted the lid off and  
took a swig before she snatched her and Riley's wedding picture off the  
mantelpiece.  
She brushed a lock of her now dark brown, curly hair out of her face and  
looked at the picture in the frame. Riley was grinning broadly, resplendent  
in his ugly blue tux and wacky, brightly colored necktie beside her. She'd  
still been a blond then. She was wearing her mother's lavish wedding dress,  
covered with huge white bows and pink silk roses. She crinkled her nose in  
disgust. She'd hated that dress, but both her mother and Riley had insisted  
she wear it. But that wasn't what she wanted to see right now.  
She took another huge gulp of sherry before sliding the back out of the  
frame and pulling out the picture behind it. The picture of her and Angel  
dancing at the prom.  
She sank down on the couch, tears coming to her eyes as she looked down at  
it. He'd looked so wonderful and held her so close. Buffy tenderly traced  
Angel's face in the picture with one finger and drank some more.  
She held in a sob. That was twelve years ago. Twelve years ago today. She  
was thirty now, and had only seen Angel a few times since then. Well, a few  
times compared to how often she used to see him.  
She closed her eyes, remembering the last time she ever saw him.  
They'd found a way to seal the Hellmouth. It seemed like some bizarre dream,  
too good to be true, and yet they'd done it.  
Angel, Cordelia, Doyle, Wesley and Faith had all come to Sunnydale to help  
fight the uprising demons while Willow, Tara and a coven of middle-aged,  
experienced witches from Massachusetts worked the magicks to close the  
Hellmouth forever.  
"You shouldn't be here." She'd told him. "You don't belong here any more."  
"You can't handle this by yourself." Angel had stated.  
"Really? You seemed to think I could when you left. What's different now?"  
"You never get over it, do you? It's been two years, Buffy. You've got your  
perfect life and your terrific boyfriend, and you're about to be free from  
your post as Sunnydale's Slayer. You should quit being so damn angry and give  
me a break."  
"You have no right to be here, Angel. You told me I had no right to be in L.  
A, what gives you the right to come back to Sunnydale?"  
"Excuse me for caring if you and the entire population of Sunnydale dies."  
She had opened her mouth to make another retort when suddenly a demon had  
pounced on her. It was much larger than the ones she was used to dealing  
with, and fighting it wasn't as easy as it should have been. Angel and Riley  
had both pried it off her, then battered it half to death, each in a  
competition to not only save her life but beat each other doing it. She got  
up and tried to kick it off Angel, but it had reached around and twisted her  
ankle until she fell onto her stomach on the ground. Finally, Angel had  
killed it, but before she could respond in any way, Riley had picked her up  
and hugged her almost hard enough to break her ribs.  
"Oh, Buffy; you scared me. I thought I'd lost you." Riley had kissed her  
forehead, then wrapped her in another bone-crushing hug while Angel looked on.  
"I'm fine, Riley." She'd snapped, pulling away.  
"Thank God." Suddenly, Riley's expression had turned very serious and he'd  
said, "Buffy, I have a very serious question to ask you."  
"Okay..." Buffy had uttered. Angel had said nothing, waiting.  
"Buffy, will you marry me?"  
Her mind had spun like a color wheel. She'd shot a look over her shoulder at  
Angel, who was glaring quietly. She'd felt rage well up inside her, rage at  
the way Angel had left her, hurt her, so she could have a "normal life". That  
was when she'd decided. He wants me to have a normal life, fine; I'll have  
one, starting right now.  
"Yes." Buffy had said, turning back to Riley and forcing a smile. "I'd love  
to."  
She caught a stunned, pained look on Angel's face as Riley enveloped her in  
yet another too-tight embrace. Her green eyes had met his brown ones, and  
suddenly, she wished she hadn't done it.  
Angel's expression had turned hard, and then he'd turned and walked away,  
disappearing into the darkness forever for the second time.  
Everything from that moment on had been so blurred in Buffy's mind. The  
months flew by like minutes. Willow had been selected as maid of honor, and  
some old friend of Riley's from the army, Buffy couldn't remember his name  
now, had come out to Sunnydale to be his best man. Invitations had been sent  
out. Buffy had invited Angel and his entire staff; not to be polite, but  
because she'd secretly hoped Angel would come and stop her wedding, take her  
away, talk her out of it, and swear that he still loved her. He hadn't. His  
RSVP had been marked "regretfully decline" and that was that. The others had  
come, and Doyle had told her that Angel sent his best wishes for her future  
and happiness, but that was all she'd heard of him.  
Within four years, their daughter had been born. They'd named her Audrey  
after Riley's mother. They had owned a "lovely" farm house in Iowa, leaving  
Sunnydale behind for good now that they no longer needed a Slayer. Buffy had  
hated it; that house had been so...well, farm-y. The air had smelled like  
cattle and hay, the wood smelled rotten whenever it rained, and the roof had  
had leaks in it.  
Buffy hadn't seen the others as often as she'd liked. She had, however,  
attended the weddings of Xander and Anya, Spike and Willow, Giles and Tara,  
and even gone to Cordelia's baby shower back when she and Doyle had conceived  
their twins. Angel had been invited to all of those events, even though Spike  
had grumbled about having "that bloody poof" at his wedding, but he never  
came. Buffy had asked Cordy if she was the reason why, to which the former  
cheerleader had tactlessly replied, "Probably."  
Buffy had colored her hair to about Cordy or Faith's shade of brown when  
Audrey was a baby. Riley'd hated it. In retrospect, that was why she'd done  
it--to spite him. But she also liked the color, and kept it to this day.  
Somehow, Audrey's hair had turned out to be the same hue, which further  
annoyed Riley, for some unknown reason.  
That was the year he'd died. Buffy thought back to the terrible accident  
that had led to Riley's demise. He'd been walking into town when he got hit  
by a truck. Buffy felt more tears coming as she remembered having to go to  
the coroner's to identify his body. Small wonder; he'd been smashed up almost  
beyond recognition.  
Audrey had been barely two, and hadn't understood any of what was going on.  
The only thing she really understood was that her daddy had been in an  
accident and now lived in Heaven, and she got to stay at Aunt Willow and  
Uncle Spike's house, and Uncle Xander had let her have all the popsicles  
she'd wanted.  
All Buffy had wanted at the time was for everyone to go away. Giles and  
Tara, now a happily married couple, had constantly been bothering her, trying  
to be kind and supportive, making a huge fuss over her. Willow had been like  
a worried mother hen, trying to protect her chick. Buffy had been grateful  
for Spike and Anya's noncomittal condolences and the way they'd made a  
beeline for the food at the wake. Neither had particularly liked Riley, nor  
had they been particularly close to Buffy, so they'd given her the space  
she'd craved.  
Buffy had once again invited Angel and his staff to come to a life-changing  
event. And, once again, everyone but Angel had come. At Riley's funeral,  
Cordelia and Doyle had been sympathetic and kind, but understood when she  
just wanted to be alone. They'd been busy with their year-old "terror twins",  
anyway. It was then that she learned of Wesley and Faith's impending  
marriage, and how close they all were to each other, and how Angel was a dear  
friend to each of them. Buffy had wanted him to come to the funeral, so that  
she could just lock herself in a room with him, lay in his arms and cry like  
there was no tomorrow. In spite of everything--the years of heartbreak and  
difficulty, the pain she'd caused him and vice versa, her marriage, the birth  
of her daughter--she still loved Angel and wanted his reassurance above  
anybody else's.  
After that, she'd decided to get the hell out of Iowa. She had had no reason  
to stay any longer, and she'd wanted to move on to a better scene, where she  
wasn't stifled by the overly farm-like atmosphere Riley had said would be  
good for her.  
Why she had chosen Montana, though, no one would ever know. She'd moved from  
someplace rural, backwoods and farm-y to someplace even more rural, backwoods  
and farm-y. What was nice, however, about this move was that the others had  
all come with her. Her mother had an apartment in town, as did Xander and  
Anya; Spike and Willow had found an immense house overlooking a lake about  
four miles from Buffy's place, and Giles and Tara had settled into a cozy  
house with a white picket fence and lots of room for Giles to keep his books  
in. Of all of the couples who had married in the Scooby Gang, those two had  
probably surprised her the most; Tara was so mousy and shy, and Giles so  
absorbed in his books that they seemed hopelessly mismatched. No one could  
really say anything about age differences; Spike, after all, was 136, and  
Anya was 1132.  
Buffy had gone through several jobs after Riley died; receptionist,  
secretary, telemarketer. Basically, anything with a phone. Finally, when  
Audrey was about three, Buffy had opened a store in town. She sold bath oils,  
organic make-up, incense, and the like. It was actually a perfect job for  
her, and she was very successful at it. It would seem like she had nothing to  
be unhappy about.  
But Angel. She missed Angel. Everything she'd done, every achievement  
through the years, she'd always thought of him. Wondered if he'd be happy  
that she was living the normal life he'd wanted her to have so badly; so  
badly he'd left.  
Not that she was still angry. The fury and the pain had long since  
dissipated, leaving only an intense feeling of longing. And loneliness.  
Buffy polished off her bottle of sherry and got up off the sofa, sliding the  
prom photo carefully back into its place behind her wedding picture.  
She ran out to her car through the rain and quickly drove over to Willow's.  
She didn't bother knocking, merely went inside and shouted, "Hey, guys! I'm  
here!"  
"Hey, Slayer." Spike greeted her, his mouth full of nails as he studied the  
instructions for how to put together a bench that would later be a front  
porch swing. Buffy stifled a laugh at the incredulity of the scene before  
her: William the Bloody, her former archnemesis, was a happily married man  
assembling a porch swing.  
"Any reason you're not doing that in the garage?" Buffy asked.  
Spike looked aghast at the thought. "It's leaking in there! I'm not going  
out there, just to get wet. Don't care if I am getting sawdust and sandpaper  
all over the carpet."  
"Yeah; we'll probably have to replace it." Willow said, coming in from the  
kitchen. "Hi, Buff!" They hugged. "What's up? How come you're not at work?"  
"It's today, Will." Buffy explained.  
Willow eyed her sympathetically. "I was hoping you'd forget."  
"I nearly did, until Audrey pointed out that it was springtime and I looked  
at the calendar." Buffy sighed. "The anniversary of prom night. It's been  
twelve years; shouldn't I be over it by now?"  
"One would think." Spike muttered from over in the corner.  
Willow reached over and smacked him upside the head. "Ignore him, Buffy."  
"I just...I can't get him out of my head, Will. This is so pathetic. All  
these years, getting married, having Audrey, burying Riley..." She sighed. "I  
still love him."  
Willow squeezed her shoulder. "If it makes you feel better, I still love Oz."  
Spike growled angrily.  
"A little." Willow added, quieting him down. "Love doesn't just go away,  
Buff. Even moving on with your life doesn't really do that."  
"I know, but..." Buffy sighed. "Am I going to be crazy about him forever?"  
"Well, no, not forever." Spike said. "You are going to get old and die, you  
know."  
Both women shot him deadly glares. Spike muttered something and went back to  
his building.  
"Well, Buffy, how crazy about him are you?"  
"Crazy enough that I want to drive out to L. A right now and try to get him  
back." Buffy admitted.  
"Well, then, you've got two choices; you can either stay here and live your  
life the way it is now, or you can try and go back for Angel." Willow said.  
Buffy didn't notice the looks she and Spike exchanged over their shoulders.  
Buffy bit her lower lip, thinking hard. If she went to L. A, and faced Angel  
for the first time in ten years, it could possibly lead to heartbreak and  
humiliation. But if she stayed here, in Montana, with her house, her shop and  
her daughter, she'd always wonder. Always wonder what she and Angel could've  
had.  
Buffy slowly got to her feet. "Willow, could you take care of Audrey for a  
couple of days?"  
Willow beamed at Buffy. "Of course; we'd love to have her."  
Spike hid a grin and pretended to be very interested in the instructions  
he'd been reading.  
Buffy hugged Willow tightly. "This is crazy."  
"But you're gonna do it anyway, so you might as well get started." Willow  
told her with a smile.  
Buffy smiled back. "Bye, Will." She grabbed her keys and her purse, and all  
but ran out the door and to her car.  
Spike wrapped his arms around his wife's waist. "So the Slayer and my poof  
of a sire are finally getting back together."  
Willow grinned. "Yep."  
"Took them long enough." Spike muttered before covering Willow's mouth in a  
kiss.

~*~*~*~*

I remember that time you told me, you said,  
"Love is touching souls,"  
Surely you touched mine

Buffy stopped at Giles and Tara's on her way out of town. She wasn't going  
to call her mother or Xander, people who'd put doubts in her mind. She just  
needed to turn managment of the store over to Tara for a few days and then  
she'd be on her way.  
She ran up the front steps and knocked on the door, waiting impatiently for  
Giles to answer.  
"Oh, hello, Buffy; what a surprise. Do come in." Giles greeted her, stepping  
aside to let her in. The years had been kind to him, and he hadn't aged very  
much at all. Buffy suspected that Tara had her ways of making him feel like a  
young man, but Buffy didn't really want that image in her head, so she merely  
admired the pictures on the walls of her ex-Watcher and Willow's  
ex-girlfriend on vacation in Maui, skiing in Vermont, and getting married  
back in good ol' Sunnydale. They looked so in love and so happy that she  
couldn't help but smile.  
She quickly turned to Giles. "Tell Tara that she'll have to manage the store  
for a few days; I'm going out of town, and I'm not sure when I'll be back."  
Giles looked confused. "W-What? Why? Buffy, where are you going?"  
Buffy took a deep breath. "Los Angeles." She hesitated a moment before  
adding, "To see Angel."  
Giles looked surprised. "Oh." He went over and dropped into an easy chair.  
"Oh."  
"Yeah." Buffy murmured, nervously picking at her cuticles. "Anyways, I kinda  
wanted to get going now, so if you could tell Tara--"  
"Buffy, are you sure about this?" Giles interrupted.  
"Seeing Angel?" She asked softly, brushing a dark curl off her forehead and  
tucking it behind her ear.  
"Buffy, seeing him after all these years will be opening up a can of worms.  
You didn't exactly part on the best of terms, and you've been married, had a  
child and been widowed since the last time you saw him. A lot has changed.  
You're not a naiŽve sixteen-year-old girl any more." Giles told her.  
"You don't think I've thought about this?" Buffy sighed. "I'm scared as  
hell. What if too much has changed? What if he doesn't love me any more? Like  
you said, we didn't part on the best of terms, what if he's still hurt that I  
married Riley?" She sat down on the couch across from him. "Giles, I see you  
and Tara together; you're so in love and so happy. You were made for each  
other. And Willow and Spike...they love each other so much, they can't even  
think straight half the time. And don't even get me started on Xander and  
Anya.  
"But me...I don't have anybody. And even when Riley was alive, I didn't have  
that. I loved him, I married him, we had Audrey; but I was never really,  
truly happy or intimate with him like you are with Tara. I never felt  
connected to him. Chances are, if he'd lived, we'd be divorced now, because  
we never had true love or passion; we just weren't soulmates like the rest of  
you are. We didn't have what you guys have." Buffy paused."But I had that  
with Angel. I'd never loved like that before, and I've never loved like that  
since. He knew me; deep down, in my soul, he knew me. And he loved me. We  
were close, we were connected. We had a real, true love like some people can  
only dream about. And I'm going to get it back."  
Giles climbed out of his chair and came over to give her a hug. "Good luck  
to you, my dear."  
Buffy hugged back. "Thanks, Giles. I-It means a lot."  
Giles pulled back and smiled. "Well, what are you waiting for? Go. Go get  
your soulmate."  
Buffy smiled, and walked out the door.

~*~*~*~*

You're in my blood like holy wine  
You taste so bitter, so bitter  
And so sweet  
I could drink a case of you,  
darlin', and still be on my feet  
Oh, I would still be on my feet

Doyle looked at his cards. This was not a good hand. He tossed two in and  
took out two more, a bead of sweat trickling down his forehead. He grimaced.  
Now he had an even worse hand. He swallowed hard. He couldn't lose this game.  
It would mean--  
"Ah! Gin!" Wesley cried triumphantly from the other side of the table, then  
showed off his cards.  
Doyle groaned and banged his forehead against the table. He sat up,  
determination in his eyes. "Two out o' three."  
Cordelia rolled her eyes. "Men."  
"Princess, unless you want I should have to make the coffee around here for  
the next three weeks, don't laugh." Doyle sipped at his drink before setting  
it back down on the table.  
"You know, Wes, you should quit while you're ahead." Faith put in to her  
husband.  
"Oh, come on, darling; you don't think I can beat him again?" Wesley asked  
her.  
Angel shook his head in bemusement at them all. In ten years, nothing had  
changed these people. Well, okay, that wasn't entirely accurate; the birth of  
her children had mellowed Cordelia and made her more tired. Alan and Delia  
ran amuck all over the office, constantly breaking things and bickering every  
second. Doyle served as somewhat of a mediator between the twins and had to  
somehow solve every single fight they had, or face the wrath of Cordelia. She  
was in charge in the family, and both her husband and her offspring feared  
and respected her. Both Alan and Delia knew to stop arguing when their father  
was sent to settle their fights, because if they didn't let him handle it,  
their mother would, and none of them wanted that.  
Doyle often quoted Bill Cosby to explain this: "I am not the boss of my  
house. I don't know how I lost it, I don't know where I lost it, I don't know  
if I ever had it. But I've seen the boss' job, and I don't want it."  
He heard groans as Doyle and Wesley finished another round of gin, with  
Wesley as the loser.  
"What'd I tell ya?" Faith smirked.  
Wesley groaned. "Why don't I quit when I'm ahead?"  
Faith kissed him softly before remarking: "Because, doofus, you never are."  
angel shook his head. What a pair those two made. Wesley, with his crisp  
white suit and neatly combed dark hair, his nicely polished glasses and  
clipped British accent; Faith, in her short, slinky black slip dress and  
leather jacket, her once black hair grown down to her waist and bleached  
white blond; they certainly looked mismatched. But somehow, the way she was  
perched in his lap, exchanging adoring smiles with him as she insulted his  
card-playing skills and ate pretzels, looked natural. They were all truly in  
love.  
Angel's heart twinged with agony as he thought back to when he was that in  
love, a beautiful girl in his lap, smiling at him and telling him with her  
eyes that she loved him. He shook his head. Ten years had passed; now wasn't  
the time to think about that.  
Cordelia sat on the table. "Doyle, go pick up the kids."  
Doyle looked up at her. "I'm in the middle of a game, princess."  
Cordy sighed, then snatched his cards out of his hand and did the same with  
Wesley's. She showed off both hands for the others to see. "You won. There.  
Now go."  
Wesley groaned. "Three out of five." He begged. Faith thwacked him over the  
head.  
Doyle grinned and pushed himself away from the table. "Sorry, Wesley; I'd  
better get a move on before my dainty and gentle beloved decides to break my  
arm."  
Cordelia scowled at him. Doyle just smiled before he pulled her off the  
table and into a kiss.  
Faith threw a handful of pretzels at them. "Take that outside!"  
Wesley smiled up at his wife and squeezed her thigh under the table.  
Angel sighed and started for his office for a brooding round when he heard  
the door open and all the other noise in the room stop.  
"Oh my God..." He heard Faith utter incredulousy.  
Angel turned around slowly and his knees nearly buckled at the sight in the  
doorway.  
The dark-haired woman standing there in jeans and an oversized, earth-toned  
sweater hardly looked the same, and yet no different at all. Ten years had  
done little to age her, and marriage and motherhood had ripened her beauty.  
The sparkling green eyes he'd once loved to gaze into stared around the room  
as she looked apprehensive.  
Angel slowly stepped forward to where she could see him. He swallowed hard  
as he softly spoke the name he hadn't said out loud in ten years. "Buffy?"  
She brushed dark curls out of her face and tucked them behind her ears  
before softly replying, "Hello, Angel."


End file.
